We've shown you a few ways to stop iTunes from hijacking your Mac's media keys, but hacker NoMitsu has created a simple patch that, with just a few clicks, will save you the trouble of doing it yourself.

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The tricks we used before were far less than ideal, requiring you to start up QuickTime in the background, or do some serious hacking to system files within iTunes.app. NoMitsu has created a one-click installer that patches the remote control daemon, the app responsible for managing the media keys. Just download the patch and double-click on it. After entering your password, your media keys will be free from iTunes' grasp.

Now, you can use your media keys in VLC, Songbird, or any other app you want without your Mac trying to launch iTunes in the background every time. The media keys will still work in iTunes when it's open, too, so there's really no reason to uninstall it—though if you really want to, double-clicking on the installer again will remove it. Note that since the remote control daemon is part of Mac OS X itself, you'll need to re-run the patch whenever you update OS X. This patch works with 10.6.2 and above.

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Note that the link below is the original thread in French. You can view the English translation here, and download the app directly from here. Thanks, ZJ!